Tag Archives: Design

This is an open, international ideas competition whose purpose is to gather ideas to stimulate discussion and to get the community-at-large to start thinking about the future of Toronto and its relationship to its waterfront. There is no commitment to build the ideas.

Furthermore, entry is open to any potential participant, and not limited to design professionals; submissions by multi-disciplinary groups or teams are encouraged as well.

Total prize value is $5,000 for winning submissions (there will be a first, second, and third prize). Prominent judges will be involved; moreover, ideas will create significant exposure here in Toronto with all entries being displayed in high visibility locations throughout the downtown core.

One of the first buildings in Australia to take up the Living Building Challenge, the LFIA and University of Wollongong invite you to join us for a tour of the newly-opened SBRC.
The day’s events will include:

10:00am Brief intro to the Living Building Challenge, from Amanda Sturgeon, Vice President, Living Building Challenge

10:30am A summary of this year’s achievements and plans for 2014 by LFIA board members

11:00am A tour of the SBRC , guided by people involved in the design and operation of the building

12:00pm Lunch

For more information on the Living Future Institute of Australia, go to:

As you may have heard UOW’s ‘Illawarra Flame’ House has received first place at the 2013 Solar Decathlon in Datong, China. The net-zero energy house, revamped a typical 1960s fibro house and was designed by students from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra.

At the forum you will find out all about the scheme from Mark Jones from AEJ. You get to ask all the hard questions, get a behind-the-scenes insight into the house and find out where to from here for the team.

Forum is happening on 11th september 5:30pm at 3 Manning Street, Potts Point.

Australia’s richest design awards – the Think Brick Awards – will be held in Sydney on Thursday, August 8 and architecture students are encouraged to enter the About Face category. This year a trip to the 2014 Venice Biennale is up for grabs as are cash prizes totalling $1500. Entries for this category close in two weeks. Submission requirements and more can be found at www.thinkbrick.com.au.

Energy Efficiency is one of the most important strategies that any country, state, city or private entity can undertake to combat climate change. Understanding how a building consumes energy is very important to identify how we can conserve.

As Architects, Designers and Engineers, we have a tremendous opportunity to impact.

Achieving energy efficiency starts with understanding why and how a building consumes energy.

Here are some free online workshops that dissected high performance building design. Topics include Climate and comfort, Basic energy analysis, lighting design, HVAC design, and some more.

Recent reports suggest that ‘energy efficient buildings’ are almost never as efficient as their intended design. Findings from the government’s low-carbon building programme, administered by the Carbon Trust, have shown that some buildings consume as much as three times their designed energy efficiency.